The present invention relates to an IC card connector assembly, and especially to an IC card connector assembly having a locator for promoting reliable electrical connection between the IC card connector assembly and a plug mounted on a mother board.
An IC card connector is adapted to electrically connect an IC card to a mother board. Terminals of the IC card connector are usually connected to the mother board by one of two methods. One method involves directly soldering the terminals to the mother board. Another method is to mount the terminals in a locator, and then mate the locator with a plug mounted on the mother board. Since the connection between the locator and the plug is releasable, the IC card connector assembly can be easily accessed for repair. The related prior art is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,636,999 and 5,688,130.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional IC card connector assembly 7 comprises a pair of stacked header connectors 72 and a locator 8. Four rows of terminals 74 are disposed in the header connectors 72. Each terminal 74 includes a mounting portion 70 extending beyond the header connector 72. The mounting portions 70 are arranged in two rows and are downwardly bent to be received in the locator 8. A plug 9 mounted on a mother board 73 includes two rows of contacts 91. The locator 8 mates with the plug 9 and the mounting portions 70 of the terminals 74 engage with the corresponding contacts 91 for establishing signal transmission therethrough. The mounting portions 70 abut against inner surfaces of the locator 8 due to the elastic resilience of the mounting portions 70. However, such elastic resilience will decline after repeated engagement/disengagement between the mounting portions 70 and the contacts 91. Thus, the mounting portions 70 can not effectively contact the inner surfaces of the locator 8 and clearance may be formed therebetween. When engaging with the contacts 91, the mounting portions 70 may be inwardly deformed such that the mounting portions 70 would not touch a predetermined portion of the contacts 91 of the plug 9 thereby impeding proper engagement between the mounting portions 70 and the contacts 91 and adversely affecting signal transmission.